Use of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) as bioindicators of spatial variations and origin determination of metal pollution in Serbia

Abstract

Honeybees have been proposed and used as bioindicators for the last few decades, because of their nature. Until now they have mostly been used to determine the present pollution and to distinguish the differences between the sampling locations and the sampling periods. With the use of multivariate statistical methods honeybees can also be used to distinguish the origin of this pollution. In this study the concentrations of Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Sr and Zn were measured in the bodies of adult honeybees collected from nine different apiaries in Serbia. With the help of the statistical methods it was established that the least polluted area was the one that has no industrial activities or the intense traffic nearby. The most polluted was the urban region, followed by a region close to thermal power plants and ash disposal site. Using PCA and CA the origin of the analyzed metals were proposed. It was suggested that Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn and Ni have anthropogenic origin mainly from the intensive agriculture, traffic and coal combustion.